doesn't the answer lie more in economics? the m coupe was a hodgepodge car with not a lot of money thrown at it, and the engineers, in addition, liked the structural reinforcements of the m roadster (=weight), so they kept it portly. i can understand that.

the z8? who knows. i read that they didn't windtunnel test it, either because they thought the engine was so powerful, it wouldn't be necessary. i'm shocked at the weight, too, but once again: was it due to engineering, or a money R&D issue? what do you think?

the new M3: definitely two things: time and money. the time wasn't there to completely do the car as they want: hence, this stopgap pig that we'll get for a couple of years until they fine tune it a bit and put in a nicer motor which isn't so peaky. money: they could have pursued things such as lighter weight glass, more carbon fiber componenets, more aluminum....hey! that's expensive. oh yeah. the bottomline hits once again.

BMW is pretty sensitive to the bottomline. do any of us really feel as though it can afford to have a loser in its lineup? or afford to waste too much money on a singular vehicle? i don't know. just guessing. but the cars are pigs. i look at the stats for 911, the boxster, the elise, the ferrari 360 and just have to wonder how soon it will be before i move into an all-around well engineered product.